Printing-machine.



OVL. RAABE.

PRINTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED IEB.18, 1910. 974,429.

2 vslumswnnim 1.

m illillr Patented Nov. 1, 1910.

0. L. RAABB.

PRINTING MACHINE.

' APPLICATION TILED IEB. 18 1910. 974,429, Patented Nov. 1, 1910.

77/840396 Q 7700 2'5207' a. WMMM W HW UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OTTO L. RAABE, 0F JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO B. HOE AND CO., 013 NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

PRINTING-MACHINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 18, 1910.

Patented Nov. 1, 1910.

Serial No. 544,567.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Or'ro L. RAABE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Jersey City, county of Hudson, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Printing-Machines, fully described and represented in the followlng specification and the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to improvements in printing machines.

In the production of newspapers, the unit ordinarily employed is a four page sheet, this being the product of a pair of printing and perfecting couples the printing cylinders of which carry four plates, arranged two around and two across the cylinder, these conples printing on what may be termed a twowide web. The printed matter on what may be termed the second pair of couples may vary with respect to the character of the product, that is to say, the second pair of couples may carry plates containing matter which is a duplicate of the plates on the first pair, or it may difl'er therefrom in case a collected product is desired. The product of such a machine is ordinarily increased by increasing the length of the cylinders, so that the printing cylinders may carry a second set of four plates, though the product may also be readily increased by duplicating the sets of cylinders, the unit of increase, in either case, however, being a multiple of the four page unit. When, however, a product is desired the pages of which are not a multiple of four, it is customary to run a single page wide web at half speed through an additional set of couples, and associate sheets cut from this web with sheets cut from a two wide web to form, for instance, a six page product.

Another method of obtaining products the pages of which are not a multiple of four is to run a full width web through one set of couples and a narrow width web through another set, this latter web being run at full speed, and omit plates from the couple which prints on the narrow width web, so that the narrow width web contains alternately printed and blank pages, the blank pages, after the web is cut into sheets, being run out of the machine and the printed pages ,being associated with the pages from the full width product.

Generally speaking, the present invention WVith this and other objects not specifi eally referred to in View, the invention consists in certain constructions, and in certain parts, improvements and combinations, as

will be hereinafter fully described and then specifically pointed out.

Referring to the accompanying drawingsFigure 1 illustrates diagrammatically, in side elevation, so much of a printing machine as is necessary to an understanding of the invention. Figs. 2, 3 and 4 are views similar to Fig. 1, showing the parts in different positions. Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating the manner in which a web may. be printed and cut when an odd-page product is required. Fig. 6 is a detail plan view of part of the mechanism illustrated in Fig. 3.

Referring to the drawings which illustrate one form of mechanism for carrying the invention into effect, W and \V' indicate printed webs which are to be converted into sheets. These webs may be printed upon a printing machine having two set of couples each comprising a printing and impression cylinder, the printing member of each couple bearing a single set of plates, each plate printing a page and the plates being arranged four plates across and two around, in which case a slitter will be employed, as usual, one of the webs formed thereby being transferred laterally. The mechanism to be hereinafter described, however, is particularly well adapted for use with a printing machine employing four sets of couples, the printing cylinder of each couple hearing four plates, arranged two around and two across. Constructions of printing machines such as referred to are well-known in the art and as these constructions have no specific bearing upon the present invention, it has been deemed unnecessary to illustrate them.

In the particular construction which has been selected to illustrate an embodiment of the invention, the printed webs are converted into sheets and assembled by a mechanism including a cylinder 1 carrying a knife 2, and also provided with sheet taking devices, such as pins, indicated at 3. Cooperating with this cylinder are companion cylinders 4, 5, the cylinder 4 being provided cut from the other web W.

with a cutting wood 6 and the cylinder 5 with a cutting wood 7. These companion cylinders 4, 5 are further provided with. sheet taking devices, those shown on the cylinder 4 comprising pins marked 8 and those on the cylinder 5 comprising pins marked 9. In the particular construction illustrated, the web IV is directed by suitable guides, shown as rolls 11 and 12, and a takeup roll 13, between the cutting cylinder and the second companion cylinder, and the web W is shown as directed over a roll 14 between the cutting cylinder and the first companion cylinder.

When the mechanism is employed for the purpose of producing products having what may be termed an odd number of pages, that is, pages which are not a multiple of four, one of the webs-in the particular construction shown, the web lVwill bear printed I and unprinted pages, this being accomplished by removing the plates from the cylinders which print this web. These unprinted pages are so handled as not to be included in the regular product of the machine. It may be remarked that, of course, these pages, which are not to form a part of the regular product, may be printed with special matter to form, for instance, posters or advertising sheets, in which case the couples will be provided with special plates to print this matter. For the sake of simplicity of description, however, it will be assumed that these sheets will be left unprinted and they will be referred to as blank pages, notwithstanding the fact, as pointed out, that they may bear special printed matter which is not to be a part of the regular product. As these blank pages are not to form a part of the regular product, means will be provided which effect the removal of them from the machine, the printed sheets, from this web V, however, being associated with sheet-s The removing mechanism, in the particular construction illustrated, comprises a cylinder 15 having sheet taking devices, indicated as pins 16, and a fly 17. The mechanism referred to is particularly adapted for use in connection with printing couples in which the plates are so arranged on the printing cylinders that the columns of the printed matter run around the cylinders, or, stated in another way, in which the plates are so arranged on the cylinders that the columns of printed matter extend in the direction of the run of the web. In machines of this class, the product may most effectively be delivered by means of a longitudinal folder, such a folder being indicated at 18.

The machine illustrated is arranged for a fourteen page product. When so arranged, the web W will be a two wide web and one plate will be omitted from each of the printcouples by which the web is printed, so that the web,it being understood that the cylinders may have the capacity of normally carrying four plates, arranged two around and two acrosswill carry a printed page and a blank page, followed by two printed pages, these printed pages being again followed by a printed page and a blank page, and so on. Such a web as referred to is shown in Fig. 5 in which the unprinted page is marked at, its companion printed page Z) and the two printed pages abreast c. The web W will be a two wide web bearing two printed pages abreast, as usual, the columns on both webs extending in the direction of the run of the web.

Referring to Fig. 1, the web W has its leading edge taken by the pins 8 on the cylinder 4 and is carried around by this cylinder, this edge being constituted by the edges of pages a, b. Inasmuch as the blank pages are to be removed, a cut' must be produced in this web equal in length to a page and extending in the direction of the run of the web, this out being marked 19 in Fig. 5. In the particular construction shown, this is accomplished by a slitter 20 which cooperates with the cylinder 4. It will be further understood that in the construction shown the cylinders 1, 4 and 5 have a circumference equal in length to the length of a printed page. The leading edge of the web IV having been taken by the pins 8 is carried onward and is slit by the slitter. When the cylinder 4 has made a half revolution and the leading edge of the blank page meets the pins 16 on the cylinder 15, which pins extend only half the length of the cylinder, it is taken by these pins, the other page Z) of the web being still held by the pins 8 and being carried on around the cylinder, as shown in Figs. 3 and" 6, which show the blank page a of the web as being carried around by the cylinder 15 and the printed page Z) by the cylinder 4. At the time blank page a is being transferred to the pins 16, as described, the leading edge of the web IV meets the pins 3 on the cylinder 1 and is impaled by these pins (see Fig. 2). The cylinders now make another half revolution and as this half revolution is completed, the knife 2 meets the wood 6 on the cylinder 4 and severs the web V, this cutting operation, inasmuch as the web has already been slit'by the slitter, producing two sheets car-. rying the pages a 7) shown in Fig. 5, the page a being impaled by the pins 16, as before stated, and being carried around the cylinder 15, the page Z) being still held by the pins 8 and carried around the cylinder 4. As the cylinders come into the position shown in Fig. 3, the double page part c of the web \V comes into position to be impaled by and is impaled by the pins 8 on the cylinder 1 which also take at this time the page?) from 1 0 the pins 6. The cylinders now make another half revolution, at which time the knife 1 meets the cutting wood 7 and severs the web W the leading edge of which is at this time, as before stated, held by the pins 3. As this cutting operation occurs, the pins 9 come into operation and take the leading edge of the web W and also the superposed sheets which are now on the cylinder 1. On the next half revolution, the knife 2 on the cylinder 1 meets the wood 6 on the cylinder 4 and severs the web W, thus completing the formation of the double wide page 0. Just before the last cutting operation occurs, the pins 9 release the sheets which they are holding and the product starts down the folder 18. As the last cutting operation is completed, the pins 8 again take the leading edge of the web IV formed by the leading edges of the sheets a b, and the cycle of operations is repeated. There is, therefore, going down the folder, a two page web sheet cut from the web IV which is next the folder,

the page Z) cut from the web W, a two page wide sheet cut from the web W, and the two page sheet 0 from the web WV, making the fourteen page product referred to.

It may be here remarked that in case it is desired to paste the product, the slitter 20 may be arranged so that it does not act exactly on the median line, thus providing a tab to which paste may be applied by the usual pasting agencies, not shown. In this case, of course, the sheet a will be slightly smaller than the sheet 6.

If it be desired to use this mechanism for producing a sixteen page product, the pins 8 on the cylinder 4: would be silenced. In that case, the pins 3 on the cylinder 1 would take the leading edge of the web W, and after the cylinder 1 had made a half revolution, these pins would pick up the leading edge of the .web W. As the next revolution was completed, the cutters 2, 6 would sever the sheet from the web W and the pins 3 would again take the leading edge of the web W. On the next half revolution, the cutters 7 would sever the sheet from the web NV and the pins 9 would take a sheet from the web IV, the pins 3 at the same time transferring its sheets to these pins.

The operation of producing a twelve page paper may be precisely the same as that described for the sixteen, except thatthe web W in that case being run as a single wide web, in which case the product would consist of two four-page sheets from the web V and two two-page sheets from the web WV, the two two-page sheets alternating with the four-page sheets.

To produce a ten-page paper, the. web W may be run as a narrow width web bearing alternately printed and blank pages, the web being similar to the upper half of the web shown in Fig. 5. In this case, the web would be led so that the edge of the web formed by the edge of the blank sheet a. would first meet the cylinders '1, 4t and be taken by the pins 8, carried around and delivered to the pins 16 on the cylinder 15, the succeedin operations being the same as those described in connection with the fourteen page product.

An eight-page product may be produced on this machine by running either one of the sets of couples and using the cylinder 1 as a collecting cylinder, the pins 8 on the cylinder 4t being silenced. Double the quantlty of eights may also be produced by duplicating the plates on both sets of couples, in which case the webs will be run directly through the cylinders 1, 5, these cylinders acting simply as cutting cylinders, the cylinder 4 in this case being rendered inoperative.

A six page product may be produced on the machine by running the web IV alone, the web being printed as shown in Fig. 5, and the mechanism being operated as described in connection with the production of the fourteen-page product. This arrangement will produce a six page paper from a single set of plates. If it be desired to produce twice the quantity of sixes, the web \V would be run as a narrow width web and carry two plates having duplicate subject-matter, the pairs of plates on the cylinders which print the web W being also duplicates. In this case, the cylinder 4 will be rendered inoperative and the webs run through the cylinders 1, 5 acting as cutting cylinders. It will be seen, therefore, that this machine will produce all products from a four to a sixteen, varying by twos, and further that each product may, if desired, be produced without duplicating the plates, this being considered very desirable in certain printing otfices, especially where the circulation is limited.

(,hanges and variations may be made in the construction by which the invention is carried into effect. The invention is not, therefore, to be limited to the specific construction herein shown and described.

'hat is claimed is 1. The combination with a knife carrying cylinder, of a pair of cylinders each carrying cutting means with which the knife cooperates in succession, and all the cylinders being provided with sheet taking devices, means for directing a web between the knife carrying cylinder and one cylinder of the pair, means for directing a web between the knife carrying cylinder and the other cylinder of the pair, and means for delivering sheets from both webs associated to form a single product.

2. The combination with a knife carrying cylinder, of a pair of cylinders each carrying cutting means with which the knife cooperates in succession, and all the cylinders being provided with sheet taking devices, means for directing a web between the knife carrying cylinder and one cylinder of the pair, means for directing a web between the knife carrying cylinder and. the other cylinder of the pair, means for removing part of the product formed from one of the webs by the cutting operation, and means for delivering the remainder of the product of this web associated with the product out from the other web to form a single product.

3. The combination with a knife carrying cylinder, of a pair of companion cylinders each carrying cutting means with which the knife cooperates in succession, means for directing a web between the knife carrying cylinder and one of the cylinders of the pair, means for directing aweb between the knife carrying cylinder and the other cylinder of the pair, means for removing from one of the companion cylinders a part of the product formed from one of the webs by the cutting operation, sheet taking devices on this companion cylinder, sheet tak ing devices on the knife carrying cylinder to which the sheet taking devices on said companion cylinder deliver the remainder of the product, sheet taking devices on the other companion cylinder to which the sheet taking devices on the knife carrying cylinder deliver the product, and a longitudinal folder to which the associated product from the webs is delivered.

4 The combination with a knife carrying cylinder, of a pair of companion cylinders each carrying cutting means with which the knife cooperates in succession, means for directing a web between the cutting cylinder and the first companion cylinder, means for directing a web between the knife carrying cylinder and the second companion cylinder, a slitter cooperating with the first companion cylinder, means for removing from the first companion cylinder part of the product formed by the cutting operation, sheet taking devices on the first companion cylinder, sheet taking devices on the knife carrying cylinder and to which the sheet taking devices on the first companion cylinder deliver, sheet taking devices on the second companion cylinder which receive the product from the sheet taking devices on the knife carrying cylinder, and a longitudinal folder.

5. The combination with a knife carrying cylinder, of a pair of companion cylinders each carrying cutting means with which the knife cooperates in succession, means for directing a web between the cutting cylinder and the first companion cylinder, means for directing a web between the knife carrying cylinder and the second companion cylinder, a slitter cooperating with the first companion cylinder, means for removing from the first companion cylinder part of the product formed by the cutting operation, sheet taking devices on the first companion cylinder, sheet taking devices on the knife carrying cylinder and to which the sheet taking devices on the firsticompanion cylinder deliver, sheet taking devices on the second companion cylinder which receive the product from the sheet taking devices on the knife carrying cylinder, a longitudinal folder, and a cylinder provided with sheet taking devices for removing a part of the product formed from one of the webs by the cutting operation.

(3. The combination with a knife carrying cylinder, of a pair of companion cylinders each carrying cutting means with which the knife cooperates in succession, means for directing a web between the cutting cylinder and the first companion cylinder, means for directing a web between the knife carrying cylinder and the second companion cylinder, a slitter cooperating with the first companion cylinder, means for removing from the first companion cylinder part of the product formed by the cutting operation, sheet taking devices on the first companion cylinder, sheet taking devices on the knife carrying cylinder and to which the sheet taking devices on the first companion cylinder deliver, sheet taking devices on the second companion cylinder which receive the product from the sheet taking devices on the knife carrying cylinder, a longitudinal folder, a cylinder provided with sheet taking devices for removing a part of the productformed from one of the webs by the cutting operation, and a fly to which said cylinder delivers.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

OTTO L. RAABE. Witnesses:

A. VVI-IrrE, J. J. KEARNs. 

